Today in History

Today is Saturday, June 23, the 175th day of 2012. There are 191 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 23, 1812, Britain, unaware that America had declared war against it five days earlier, rescinded its policy on neutral shipping, a major issue of contention between the two countries. The same day, the British frigate HMS Belvidera came under attack from the USS President and the USS Congress in the North Atlantic; the Belvidera managed to escape.

On this date:

In 1757, forces of the East India Company led by Robert Clive won the Battle of Plassey, which effectively marked the beginning of British colonial rule in India.

In 1860, a congressional resolution authorized creation of the United States Government Printing Office, which opened the following year.

In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on a round-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours.

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.

In 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed to limit the power of organized labor.

In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.

In 1961, the Antarctic Treaty, intended to ensure that the continent would be used only for peaceful purposes, came into force.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin (ah-LEK'-say koh-SEE'-gihn) held the first of two meetings at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.

In 1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation. (Revelation of the tape recording of this conversation sparked Nixon's resignation in 1974.) President Nixon signed into law Title IX, which barred discrimination on the basis of sex for "any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."

In 1985, all 329 people aboard an Air India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland because of a bomb believed to have been planted by Sikh separatists.

In 2005, a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Kelo v. City of New London, ruled that governments may seize property for private development projects.

Ten years ago: Rival groups of Protestants and Catholics clashed on the streets of north Belfast, Northern Ireland, following a weekend of sporadic sectarian violence. Twenty-six North Korean asylum seekers left South Korean and Canadian diplomatic compounds in Beijing bound for South Korea, ending a monthlong diplomatic standoff.

Five years ago: Searchers in Summit County, Ohio, found the body of Jessie Davis, a missing 26-year-old pregnant woman, in a park. (Bobby Cutts Jr., a former Canton police officer who was the father of Davis' unborn child, was later convicted of murder and aggravated murder and sentenced to 57 years to life in prison.)

One year ago: Republicans pulled out of debt-reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden, blaming Democrats for demanding tax increases as part of a deal rather than accepting more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicare and other government programs. "Columbo" actor Peter Falk died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 83.